A Miniature Eight-Port Antenna Array Based on Split-Ring Resonators for 5G Sub-6 GHz Handset Applications

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 23; no. 24; p. 9734
• Main Authors: Huang, Jianlin, Shen, Lingrong, Xiao, Shanshan, Shi, Xiaojing, Liu, Gui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 10.12.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Antennas; Antennas (Electronics); Bandwidths; C-band; Copper; Efficiency; Geometry; MIMO antenna; Printed circuit boards; Radiation; Spectrum allocation; split-ring resonator; sub-6G antenna; Wang-shaped radiator; 5G; split-ring resonator; Wang-shaped radiator; C-band; sub-6G antenna; MIMO antenna
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s23249734

In this article, a miniature eight-port multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna array is proposed for fifth-generation (5G) sub-6 GHz handset applications. The individual antenna element comprises a radiator shaped like the Chinese character "" (phonetically represented as "Wang") and three split-ring resonators (SRR) on the metal frame. The size of the individual antenna element is only 6.8 × 7 × 1 mm (47.6 mm ). The proposed antenna element has a -10 dB impedance bandwidth of 1.7 GHz (from 3.3 GHz to 5 GHz) that can cover 5G New Radio (NR) sub-6 GHz bands N77 (3.3-4.2 GHz), N78 (3.3-3.8 GHz), and N79 (4.4-5 GHz). The evolution design, the current distribution, the effects of single-handed holding, and the analysis of the parameters are deduced to study the approach used to design the featured antenna. The measured total efficiencies are from 40% to 80%, the isolation is better than 12 dB, the calculated envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) is less than 0.12, and the calculated channel capacity (CC) ranges from 35 to 38 bps/Hz. The presented antenna array is a good alternative to 5G mobile handsets with wideband operation, a metal frame, and minimized spacing.